Without Title
by Mango To The Max
Summary: Don't want to lose anything anymore. Im all alone. without you by my side, watching as time goes on. What should i do? I beg you, open your eyes! Open your eyes, look at me, and tell me again, 'i love you,


**Revised! (Because before this story was an abomination! This may seem like much better, but trust me when I say it is...)**

~Without Title~

The day was warm, but not oppressively so, and made moving about comfortable. Which was why a young boy with short, deep red hair and matching eyes, wandered aimlessly through dense woods on the side of a mountain. The boy had felt his training was boring and left in search of something to entertain him. If the boy was to think back on the day, he might say he got more than he bargained for. But he would never regret it.

The boy just reached his limit for annoying branches smacking him in the face when he spotted a cave. "Yes!", he exclaimed in happiness, because he would be getting out of the annoying trees, and perhaps get to explore a cave! At any rate, as long as he wasn't getting so dirty, he didn't mind.

He found an appropriate stick, took out a handkerchief and wrapped the end of said stick, and lit it with his handy pocket lighter. Once he had his light, he ventured into the cave. The entrance to the cave would be big enough for a bare, the boy supposed, but with the lack of animal tracks outside the entrance he didn't worry. The cave narrowed even further the deeper he walked in, until it eventually resembled more of a tunnel. The tunnel walls were rough and crude, and if he stretched out his arms on both sides his fingers would almost touch. He walked on and on, until he could no longer see the light from the entrance behind him. Yet he did not stop, he was too excited he might find some lost treasure.

At some point, when he had lost his sense of time, a light grew in front of him. It was small and light blue, but as he got closer, the light grew. Eventually he came upon the source of the light and was shocked speechless at it. For before him floated a glowing blue sphere, but that was not what amazed him. It was what was in the spear. It was just big enough to hold its occupant. There was a woman, an old woman. Her hair was long, snow white, and covered her state of no clothes. It pooled in the bottom of the sphere like a cushion upon which she sat. Her skin sagged and stretched thin over her bones, bones that pushed against her skin as if they might pop out at any moment. At first glance, the women looked like she might be dead. But at a closer look the boy noticed the small, slow rise and fall of her ribs.

First the boy set down his torch, then slowly the boy approached, his heart raced, and as he held his breath, he reached out to the sphere. As his finger touched the sphere, something pricked his finger, and with a slight hiss, he jerked his hand back and clutched it to his chest. He examined his stinger, a small bead of blood rose on the tip of his index finger. Then he looked to the sphere again, to the spot where his blood smeared on its surface. As he stared, the sphere grew brighter, and brighter until the boy was forced to turn and cover his head with his arm. When he felt the light die down, he lowered his arms and looked again.

In the place of the sphere with the old woman, a much younger woman sat. Her hair was the same color as the boys, from what he could tell from the firelight. Her hair was even the same wild mess his gets when he grows it out. The boy frowned at the thought, but continued to examine the new girl. She looked like she might be 16-18 years old, slender, but had enough muscles to not be in danger. She was clothed in a strange white slip, it resembled more of a nightgown than a dress, and when she opened her eyes, he wondered if he could die from shock at his age. Her eyes were the same color as his, just like her hair was the same as his.

For a second time he looked at his finger, where it had bled only seconds before the disappearance of the old woman in the sphere, and the appearance of the young women. Perhaps his blood had done this?

Before he could ponder more on the matter, a voice spoke, "Who are you?", the voice was gravely and rough. His head snapped up at stared at the girl. She returned his look with a raised eyebrow, then she cleared her throat, and tried again. "Where are we?"

Dumbly almost, the boy replied, "In a cave."

The girl tilted her head to the side and whispered to herself, "...a cave...," louder she said, "and again, who are you?"

He paused, and after a moment he answered, "I don't believe we've met before, I'd remember such a pretty face."He gave her a bright smile, "The name's Cross Marian."

~o0o~

Finally, the girl smiled as well. Her smile was small and shy in comparison to Cross's smile, but it didn't last long. A look of worry crossed her face, "...Do you- know who I am?"

Cross frowned for a moment and asked slowly, "...do you?" Something told Cross he already knew the answer, and he was proved right when she shook her head. A tear rolled down her cheek, and it only took the one tear to freak Cross out. "H-hey now! Don't cry! I'll just give you a name, how 'bout that?"

The girl gave a little sniff, whipped her tear away, then gave him a small smile, "I'd love that."

Cross gave a sigh of relief and smiled brightly again, "Hmmmm... let's see, what do you think of Brittany?" The girl shook her head. "Sarah?" A frown. "...ugh...maybe something asian?", he frowned in concentration. The girl tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders. "Mitsu? It means "light" I think..." Another frown. "Maybe Rena, means reborn I think..." A shrug. "Hmmm... what about... Ai **(pronounced 'eye')**, it means "love" I'm pretty sure." She paused, she didn't react immediately, then when she did, she smiled and nodded her head.

He shrugged his shoulders in relief, then he spoke again, "So, Ai, would you like to come with me?"

The girl, never dropping her smile, said, "Go where?"

"Back to headquarters, me and my master are going there to pick up another apprentice. Oh, and when you meet my master he could tell you if you might be one too!" Cross spoke quickly due to his excitement.

"Headquarters? Master? Apprentice?" Ai's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and her smile dropped. It sounded like she would be meeting a lot of people, and she was nervous.

"Yeah, it'll be great! Come on!" and he reached down and grabbed her hand, then yanked her up. She was momentarily dizzy, and stumbled, but Cross steadied her. Then with a smile he began to explain as he picked up his torch and dragged her out out the tunnel and the cave.

As Cross explained to her of innocence and the headquarters, she only became more worried. Would they like her, would she be suited for the innocence? Cross was oblivious to her musings the whole way.

Finally, they broke through the line of trees, and there stood an man pacing. When he noticed Cross, he started marching forward, "Cross! Where have you been, I've been waiting for-" then he paused, just then noticing his companion.

"Who's this?" he asks slowly, as he examined her, he also noticed the similarities between her and his apprentice.

"This is Ai, she was lost in the woods, and I think she hit her head, cause she only knows her name... but she's really nice, do you think she might be a host for innocence too? And if not, can we still bring her with us to headquarters? She could be a finder, or something!" Cross was desperate.

Cross's master was silent, and stared with narrow eyes at Ai. Perhaps he thought she might be an akuma? Or a new kind of minion from the Earl? The man was always suspicious.

"Well, it wont hurt to bring her alone, especially if she gets examined by the gatekeeper first, then Hevlaska of course..." Cross's master spoke finally.

Cross jumped in happiness, and thrust his fist into the air while exclaiming, "YES!"

The master sighed, "We'll come along then, we're even further behind schedule then." And at his final words, the master turned and began walking towards a cluster of buildings.

Ai, giggled as Cross grabbed her hand, tugging her after his master, and began rambling about all the things they'll get to do together once she gets her innocence.

And yet, they wouldn't say it aloud, but Cross and Ai held a mutual understanding of similar bad feelings in their stomachs.

~o0o~

**I'm not sure if D. Grey-Man actually says who his master was, but I'm just going to refer to him as a man. He's not in my story for long so I don't think it matters much. Was anything confusing or unclear? Review please! ^_^**


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